Jail program will mean deportation for thousands of illegal aliens...

Screening of foreign citizens approved


Jail program will mean deportation for thousands of illegal aliens, but some officials doubt it's affordable.


By Michael Pearson
The Atlanta Journal Constitution, April 2, 2008



The Gwinnett County Commission approved funding Tuesday to begin screening for illegal immigrants entering the county's jail.

The program, called 287(g) after the section of the federal immigration law that authorizes it, is expected to detect thousands of illegal immigrants a year and turn them over to federal officials for deportation, Sheriff Butch Conway said.

The program could begin as early as October under terms of a resolution approved unanimously by the commission after a tense discussion.

The resolution gives Conway the 18 positions he said he needed to begin the program but requires that he trim vacancies in the department to 12 and have deputies enrolled in the training course for the federal immigration program before the positions are authorized. The department has nearly 40 openings.

'We're ready to go,' Conway said. 'I just needed the commitment, and I wasn't getting that until today.'

The program has become a political issue between Commission Chairman Charles Bannister and Commissioner Lorraine Green, who has announced plans to challenge him in the July Republican primary.

Bannister has urged a cautious approach to the immigration program, saying he supports it, but that the county's budget is in a fragile state and that he would prefer to allocate money as the need arises.

The day's debate began on a motion he introduced calling for consideration of new deputies as needed.

Green urged a more rapid approach, saying having the county help overwhelmed federal officials enforce immigration law is a top priority of residents. She sponsored a resolution in place of Bannister's --- which the board eventually adopted --- promising funding for the program this year.

'I think the public is tired of crawling,' she said. 'They want to run.'

Conway also was terse with Bannister, applauding him for a fact-finding trip to North Carolina last week to visit a sheriff's department enrolled in the 287(g) program but saying he did not understand the pressures his own county's sheriff's department was under.

'I wish you'd come to your jail,' he said. 'Then maybe you'd understand better.'

The board adopted Green's motion unanimously, with even Bannister voting in favor. Commissioner Mike Beaudreau voted for the plan, although he expressed concerns about where the county would find money to fund it.

Conway said assigning 18 deputies to the program should allow his staff to screen every foreign citizen who passes through the jail for immigration status, assigning those who are in the country illegally for transfer to the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement service for deportation proceedings.

The sheriff's department must still get the formal go-ahead from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, work out an agreement with the agency on terms of the program and hire enough staff to fully open a new jail tower.

The space has remained closed since it was built because Conway said he does not have enough deputies to staff it. Several hundred inmates are sleeping on the floor in other parts of the jail, a violation of American Correctional Association standards.

The Department of Homeland Security requires that jails involved in the immigration program meet all of those standards.



http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/sto
ries/2008/04/01/immigration_0402.html